Norse is another name for the North Germanic, or Scandinavian,
group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Germanic languages). The modern Norse
languages—Danish, Faeroese, Icelandic,
Norwegian, and Swedish—all stem from
an earlier form of Norse known as Old Norse. Now extinct, Old Norse was the language
spoken by the Germanic tribes living in Scandinavia before A.D.
1000. It was first written in runes, some examples of which go back
to the 3d century A.D., but later the Roman alphabet was used. The
earliest extant Old Norse manuscripts in the Roman alphabet are from the 12th cent. Old
Norse is also noteworthy as the language of the Eddas and sagas (see Old Norse literature; Icelandic
literature).
Bibliography
See Eric V. Garden, An Introduction to Old Norse (2d ed.
1957)
Runes are ancient characters used in Teutonic, Anglo-Saxon, and
Scandinavian inscriptions. They were probably first used by the East Goths (c.300), who
are thought to have derived them from Helleno-Italic writing. The runes were adapted to
carving on wood and stone; they consisted of perpendicular, oblique, and a few curved
lines. The first six runic signs were for f, u, th, o (a), r, c
(k), hence the name Futhorc for the runic alphabets. There were two
alphabets, one of 16 signs and the other of 24 (the same 16 with 8 additional signs). They
were used extensively throughout Northern Europe, Iceland, England, Ireland, and Scotland
until the establishment of Christianity. From then on the use of runes was reviled as a
pagan practice. In Scandinavia their use persisted even after the Middle Ages; there they
were used for manuscripts as well as inscriptions. The word rune is derived from an
early Anglo-Saxon word meaning secret or mystery.
Bibliography
See A. F. Brodeur, The Riddle of the Runes (1932, repr.
1973); R. I. Page, An Introduction to English Runes (1973)
Old Norse literature is the literature of the Northmen, or Norsemen,
c.850–c.1350. It survives mainly in Icelandic writings, for little medieval
vernacular literature remains from Norway, Sweden, or Denmark.
The Norwegians who settled Iceland late in the 9th century brought with
them a body of oral mythological poetry that flourished there in a sturdy, seafaring world
removed from the warring mainland. The first great period, which lasted until c.1100, was
oral, as writing was not introduced until well after the establishment of Christianity
(c.1000). From c.1100 to c.1350 both the oral poetry and new compositions were set down.
The conscious, clear prose style that developed for both saga and history antedates that
of all other modern European literatures except Gaelic. In the later 13th century, with
Iceland's loss of independence to Norway, literary activity declined and had virtually
disappeared a century later.
The surviving body of literature can best be discussed as consisting of
several types. Eddic writings were condensations of ancient lays, in alliterative verse,
on old gods and heroes. Many of the heroic lays involve the legend of Siegfried and
Brunhild; the mythological lays, focusing on Norse gods, include “The Lay of
Thrym,” a narrative about Thor, and “The Seeress' Prophecy,” which begins
with creation and anticipates the gods' demise.
Also composed in alliterative verse, but more complex and artificial in
form, was scaldic poetry, which flourished in Norway about the 10th century and reached
its height slightly later in Iceland. Comprising poems of praise, triumph, lamentation,
and love, it is subjective in approach and highly mannered in technique. Intricate
metrical schemes are meticulously observed, and diction is polished to the point of
preciousness, especially in the incessant use of the kenning (a metaphoric substituted
phrase, e.g., “ship-road” for “sea”), found also in Anglo-Saxon
literature. As the scalds became a group apart, and only the initiated could understand
their highly allusive verse, Snorri Sturluson was prompted to write the Prose Edda
(c.1222) as a text of scaldic poetry, in a vain attempt to promote and preserve the old
techniques.
As scaldic poetry declined, new forms rose to replace it, among them the
ballad and the sacred hymn. A new rhymed verse developed, somewhat analogous to that in
Middle English literature and used for much the same purpose—translation and
paraphrase of foreign romances. The bulk of medieval Norse literature, and the most
readable today, survives in the form of sagas, that is, prose narratives, sometimes
interspersed with verse, which relate the lives of legendary or historical figures with
objectivity and skillful characterization and which reflect the old Icelandic devotion to
personal honor and family.
Historical writing of the 11th and 12th centuries is also noteworthy. In
this field Snorri Sturluson contributed his Heimskringla. Ari
Thorgilsson produced Islendingabók (c.1125), an account of the
island's history, an abridged version of which has survived. He was probably partly
responsible also for the Landnámabók, a topographical and
genealogical account of Iceland; other works by Thorgilsson have been lost. Finally, all
the Scandinavian countries produced medieval ballads, but these were not written down
until much later. There remain numerous unsolved problems concerning oral composition,
transmission of origins and influences, and dating.
Bibliography
See studies by H. R. Davidson (1943, repr. 1968) and L. M.
Hollander (1945, repr. 1968); Stefan Einarsson, A History of Icelandic Literature
(1957); Old Norse Literature and Mythology, ed. by E. C. Polomé (1969)
Icelandic is a member of the North Germanic, or Scandinavian,
group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. Spoken
chiefly by about 250,000 people in Iceland, it stems from Old Norse,
the language of the Vikings who settled in Iceland in the 9th cent. (see Germanic languages). The beginning of the
modern period of the Icelandic language may be said to date from the translation of the
New Testament in 1540 by Oddur Gottskálksson. Before that date the language is considered
Old Icelandic, which is classified as belonging to the western branch of Old Norse. Unlike
the other Scandinavian languages, Icelandic is noted for its conservatism in grammar,
vocabulary, and spelling. For instance, it still has three genders (masculine, feminine,
and neuter) and four cases for nouns (nominative, genitive, dative, and accusative), which
survive from Viking times. Verbs have a highly developed inflectional system. In matters
of vocabulary, there has been a strong purist movement for several centuries. For example,
instead of directly adopting modern scientific terms, Icelandic renders them by
translations or by newly created compounds and expressions formed from native words.
Actually, Modern Icelandic has changed so little from its parent language, Old Norse, in the course of the centuries that Icelanders today
read the Eddas and sagas of Old Norse literature more easily than the English and the
Americans read Shakespeare. One reason for the relative stability and purity of Icelandic
is that its speakers lived for centuries in comparative isolation on an island and thus
were not much influenced by other languages. The Roman alphabet came to Iceland c.1000,
along with Christianity. To it have been added several symbols, including the edh
(pronounced as the th in then) and the
thorn (pronounced as the th in think). In
addition, six letters may take the acute accent: á, é, í, ó, ú,
ý.
Bibliography:
See Stefán Einarsson, Icelandic: Grammar, Texts, Glossary
(1949); S. R. Anderson and others, ed., Modern Icelandic Syntax (1990)
Early Writings
With Iceland's loss of political independence (1261–64) came a
decline in literature, although the linguistic tradition continued and the old writings
were still venerated. In the 13th and 14th centuries the sagas of antiquity flourished;
many were based on Eddic poems. Chivalric romances appeared c.1300, emphasizing classical
and ecclesiastical themes and showing French influence. From the 14th to the middle of the
16th century many foreign works were translated; Old Norse
works were copied and compiled, and new religious poems were written in the old
meters. The 14th century also saw the development of the rímur,
metrically ingenious narrative poetry based on the sagas; it was popular until the 19th
century and was revived in the 20th.
The 16th to 19th Century
The Protestant Reformation, reaching Iceland in the 16th century, turned
literary emphasis to hymns and illuminations of the Protestant faith. Einar Sigurdsson
(1538–1626) was the great spiritual poet of the age. The first printing press was
brought to Iceland in 1528 by Bishop Jón Aresson. From the Reformation until the late
18th century it was under church control; secular works were circulated in manuscript.
After 1550, German and Danish influences were strong.
The great secular poets of the 17th century were Hallgrímur Petursson
(1614–74), author of the Passion Hymns, and the satirist Stefan Olafsson
(1620–88). Neoclassicism dominated literary style in the late 18th century. In the
early 19th century Árni Magnusson compiled a library of ancient Icelandic masterpieces.
The Creation of a Modern Icelandic Style
Continental romanticism and a newly aroused nationalism fed the romantic
revival begun in the 1830s by the poets Bjarni Thorarensen (1786–1841) and Jónas
Hallgrímsson (1807–45). The first writer of the modern Icelandic short story,
Hallgrímsson also influenced Jón Thóroddsen, who wrote the first published Icelandic
novel. This movement, whose practitioners created what became the classic Icelandic style
of the 19th and 20th cent., was continued by Grimur Thomsen (1820–96), writer of
heroic narrative poems; Benedikt Grondal (1826–1907), romantic and humorous poet;
Steingrímur Thorsteinsson (1831–1913), lyric poet, satirist, and translator; and
Matthías Jochumsson (1835–1920), whose plays mark the beginning of modern Icelandic
drama. The towering figure of the period was the historian and statesman Jón Sigurðsson.
The periodical Verdandi [the present], founded in
1882, advanced a new realism—strongly socialistic, individualistic, and anticlerical,
and influenced by the Danish critic Georg Brandes. Notable realists include the
short-story writer and social critic Gestur Palsson (1852–91); the Icelandic-Canadian
poet Stephan G. Stephansson (1853–1927); and the anticlerical satirist and lyric poet
Thorsteinn Erlingsson (1858–1914). Einar H. Kvaran (1859–1938), at first a
realist, later turned to religious and spiritual themes in his short stories about the
poor in Reykjavík. Jón Trausti (pseud. of Guðmundur Magnusson, 1873–1918) in his
fiction depicted medieval as well as modern Iceland.
The 20th Century
The 20th century saw the rise of a more introspective writing, influenced
by Nietzsche and the French symbolists. One group of writers, part of the Icelandic colony
in Copenhagen, wrote in Danish to reach a wider public. They were led by Johann
Sigurjonsson (1880–1919), a romantic dramatist. Others were the romantic novelist
Gunnar Gunnarsson and the cosmopolitan dramatist Guðmundur Kamban. A neoromantic movement
arose in the 1920s; it had as a leading spirit the poet, scholar, and critic Sigurdur
Nordal, author of the prose poem Hel (1919). Among the neoromantics were the
novelists Guðmundur Hagalin and Kristmann Guðmundsson and the lyric poets Davið
Stefánsson and Stefan Sigurdsson.
With the urbanization of Iceland's population came the rise of a working
class and new patterns of life and thought. Kamban and Trausti early became socialists;
Hagalin turned from conservative journalism to become thoroughly identified with the new
socialist middle class. The most noted writer of this period was the Nobel laureate
Halldor K. Laxness. The establishment of British and American bases in Iceland during
World War II introduced foreign literary influence, and Icelandic independence (1944)
increased nationalist and patriotic emphasis. In the 1950s the introspective “atom
poets,” including Stefan H. Grimsson and Hannes Sigfursson, won acclaim. Major
writers of the late 20th century include Agnar Thórðarson, Elias Mar, Oddur Björnsson,
Hannes Pétursson, and Jökull Jakobsson.
Bibliography
See Stefan Einarsson, History of Icelandic Prose Writers,
1800–1940 (1948) and A History of Icelandic Literature (1957); Richard
Beck, History of Icelandic Poets, 1800–1940 (1950); Gabriel Turville-Petre, Origins
of Icelandic Literature (1953); Gwyn Jones, ed., Erik the Red, and Other Icelandic
Sagas (1961)
Norwegian
Norwegian is a member of the North Germanic, or Scandinavian,
group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. It is spoken
by about 4 million people in Norway. Norwegian is a daughter language of Old Norse (see Germanic languages; Norse
language). Today there are two official forms of Norwegian: bokmål
[book language] and nynorsk [new Norwegian]. Bokmål,
also called riksmål (national language) and Dano-Norwegian, was
greatly influenced by Danish, which was the dominant language of officialdom when Norway
was under Danish rule (1397–1814). The language of the cities, the official and
professional classes, and literature, bokmål came to differ
greatly from the Norwegian spoken by the common people. Since 1905, however,
orthographical and grammatical reforms by the government have brought bokmål
closer to the popular form of Norwegian. Nynorsk, also known as landsmål
(country language), stems from the native Norwegian dialects that evolved from Old Norse (uninfluenced by Danish), and it is therefore very
different from bokmål. Developed by Ivar Aasen, nynorsk
was introduced by him in 1853 as part of a nationalistic desire to have a purely Norwegian
language for the country. It is based on rural dialects and spoken principally in rural
areas. Both bokmål and nynorsk are
employed by the government, the schools, and the mass media, but bokmål
is by far the more widely used of the two, especially in education and literature. Some
efforts have been made to fuse the two forms of Norwegian into one common Norwegian tongue
called samnorsk (common Norwegian), and there is hope that this
can be accomplished. Norwegian grammar is fairly simple. The form of the noun is changed
only to indicate possession and the plural, and personal inflection of the verb has been
discarded. Like Swedish, Norwegian uses pitch accents, but to a
lesser degree. The pitch accents give the language a musical quality and are sometimes
employed to distinguish the meanings of homonyms. Norwegian employs the Roman alphabet,
which was introduced in Norway in the 11th century and to which three characters, æ,
ø, and å, have been added.
Bibliography
See K. G. Chapman, Icelandic-Norwegian Linguistic Relationships
(1962); E. I. Haugen and K. G. Chapman, Spoken Norwegian (1964); E. I. Haugen, Language
Conflict and Language Planning: The Case of Modern Norwegian (1966); R. Strandskogen, Norwegian
Grammar (1987)
Swedish
Swedish is a member of the North Germanic, or Scandinavian,
group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. It is the
official language of Sweden and one of the official languages of Finland, and it is spoken
by about 9 million people: 7,500,000 in Sweden, 500,000 in Finland and Estonia, and 1
million in the United States and Canada. A descendant of Old Norse (see Germanic languages; Norse),
the Swedish language falls into two major periods historically: Old Swedish, the early
form of the language (usually dated from the 9th cent. to the early 16th cent.), and New
Swedish, the modern form of the language (since the early 16th cent.). The Swedish
language underwent many changes during the Middle Ages but began to be standardized in the
16th cent. as a result of such events as the throwing off of Danish domination, the
Reformation, and the translation of the Bible into Swedish. In 1786 the Swedish Academy
was established to oversee the development of the language. Swedish absorbed a number of
words from Low German in the Middle Ages, from High German in the 16th and 17th cent., from
French in the 18th cent., and from English in the 20th cent. On the whole, Swedish grammar
is simple. The noun has only the singular, possessive, and plural forms. There are two
genders for nouns, a nonneuter (or common) class and a neuter class. The former includes
masculine, feminine, and common nouns; the latter, nouns for such categories as countries
and substances and also many abstract nouns. Swedish is noted for its musical quality.
This results partly from the use of pitch accents, which sometimes serve to differentiate
the meanings of homonyms. There is considerable difference between the spoken and written
forms of Swedish. For example, a number of inflections used in literary Swedish are not
employed in the spoken language. Until the early 13th cent., runes
were used for recording Swedish, but thereafter (as Christianity took hold in Scandinavia)
they began to be replaced by the Roman alphabet, to which three symbols, å,
ä, and ö, have been added.
Bibliography
See Gösta Bergman, A Short History of the Swedish Language
(tr. 1947); Immanuel Björkhagen, Modern Swedish Grammar (9th ed. 1962); Fritz
Frauchiger and William R. van Buskirk, Spoken Swedish (1980)
Danish
Danish is a member of the North Germanic, or Scandinavian,
group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. The official
language of Denmark, it is spoken by about 5 million people, most of whom live in Denmark;
however, there are some Danish speakers in Greenland, the Faeroe Islands, Iceland, the
Virgin Islands, and the United States. Like the other Scandinavian languages, Danish is
derived from Old Norse, and by the first half of the 12th cent.
it could be distinguished from the parent tongue (see Germanic languages. Between 1100 and 1800 a
number of phonological changes took place in Danish, and the grammar became increasingly
simple. The spelling and pronunciation of the language began to be standardized c.1700,
and a modern standard Danish can be said to have existed since about 1800, although there
are still a number of dialects. Danish grammar is comparatively simple. The noun is
inflected only to show the possessive and plural forms and has but two genders, neuter and
nonneuter (or common). The meaning of nouns that are otherwise the same can depend on
gender. For example, when used in the nonneuter øre means
“coin,” whereas used in the neuter øre means
“ear.” Homonyms may also be differentiated in Danish by the use of a stød,
or glottal stop, which is a sound that results from the closing and opening of the glottis
to expel air. Verbs have no personal inflection. Although the vocabulary of Danish is
substantially native, many words have been borrowed from other languages, notably from Low German in the 14th to 16th cent.; from High German, Latin, and French in the 16th to 19th
cent.; and from English since the late 19th cent. Because
of the large number of similar and identical words in Danish, Norwegian,
and Swedish, a knowledge of any one of these languages makes it
possible to understand the spoken and written forms of the other two. Since c.1100, Danish
has used the Roman alphabet, to which three symbols representing three vowels, å
(written as aa before 1948), æ, and ø,
have been added.
Bibliography
See L. F. A. Wimmer, A Short History of the Danish Language
(1897); Danish grammars by Elias Bredsdorff (1959) and Erling Norlev and H. A. Koefoed (3d
ed. 1968)
